[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of The Group Rep’s Steel Magnolias, written by Robert Harling, directed by Kathleen R. Delaney, and co-produced for the Group Rep by Denise Downer and Mareli Mitchel-Shields.
In its 53rd season, The Group Rep really is the perfect place to see this heartbreaking and hilarious show set in the very decade Group Rep came to North Hollywood to occupy the Lonny Chapman Theatre!
I’ve seen many, many shows by these hugely creative and dedicated folks at The Group Rep. Comedies, thrillers, musicals, dramas and my favourite, movie adaptations. This wonderful version of Robert Harling’s Steel Magnolias is faithful to the play, not the film. The main difference being that the whole story plays out in the beauty salon and the cast is entirely female.
The charm of the play is that we see friendships and love collide and blossom and form bonds as strong as iron between women of different generations and wildly varied dispositions. The story is a testament to the power that comes with connections like these between women. These bonds are a superpower that we should use to our advantage for more in my opinion!
If you don’t know the story, and it bewilders me to imagine anyone who does not, it is this. In a small town in Louisiana, a group of women have been congregating at a beauty salon run by a beloved local, Truvy for years. Inside these haloed walls lives are shared and problems solved, frustrations aired and hearts mended and broken. It is a space created to beautify and, in the end, its function expands to fixing hair and hearts. Women have made these places for themselves over millennia. This particular salon is one more accidentally sacred space and it belongs in the annals of theatre as a perfect place to share a story as universal and powerful as this one.
The Group Rep has done the play proud with an amazing set, as usual. With wonderful attention to detail, the audience becomes the literal mirror wall to the drama and the incredible characters within.
And what a brilliant range of characters there are, all technicolor and bold, vibrantly played by the wonderful actors of this Group Rep. it would be easy to camp this play up, to roll around in the southern accents and make a spectacle of it. But that is a million miles away from what Group Rep offers us.
The performances are nuanced and warm, funny and deeply affecting. I wept, of course I did. But not just from knowing what must happen, but because of the beautiful sensitivity these accomplished actors give to every line.
Steel Magnolias is always a heartbreaking story, but Group Rep’s interpretation is also genuine and wonderfully hilarious! Every character is as bold and beautifully acted as you could hope for in this timeless and much-loved story. Bring your hankies and pile your hair 80s high!!
Tickets:
When:
March 20 – April 26
Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm
Talkbacks with cast and crew after the matinees on Sunday, March 22 and Sunday, March 29.
Where:
Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood.
The Cast
April Audia (M’Lynn), Grace Buzzini (U/S – Annelle, Shelby), Savannah Mortenson (Shelby), Cynthia Payo (Truvy), Faye Reynolds (Annelle), Sara Shearer (Clairee) and Janet Wood (Ouiser).
The Team
The production staff includes M. Mitchel-Shields (Co-Producer/Set Design/Artistic Council Liaison), Noemi Barrera (Lighting Design), Angela Manke (Costume Design), Krys Fehervari (Wig Design), Taylor Wesselman (Assistant Director), Denise Downer (Co-Producer/Marketing), Nora Feldman (Public Relations), Doug Haverty (Graphic Design), Kristin Stancato (Webmaster & Online Marketing), Cathy Diane Tomlin (Sound & Stage Manager), Jackie Shearn & Hartley Powers (Social Media), and Doug Engalla (Promotional Video & Photography).